NewsMicrosoft, MySpace Dominate Online Display Ad Rankings for June
Posted 08/28/08 at 04:52:06 PM by Pulkit Chandna
MySpace might have quietly slipped to the second position, behind Facebook, on the social-networking charts but it remains a stellar performer when it comes to online display ads.
MySpace emerged as the leading U.S online display ads publisher for the month of June with 51 billion ad views, according to data released by comScore Ad Metrix. Yahoo was a distant second with a shade over 34 billion ad views. The search ads behemoth Google occupied the 5th spot with 5 billion ad views.
As for the top advertiser, the honor went to Microsoft. The company's 5.5 billion display ad views came courtesy its Windows Live Search promotional campaign.
NewsDell and Facebook Work Up Hype For Cloud Computing Announcement 
Posted 08/20/08 at 08:10:24 AM by Chris Moody
Dell and Facebook are working up the hype factory as they prep a ‘significant’ announcement by mailing out nice invitations for the event next Tuesday, involving this year’s favorite buzzword; cloud computing.
Cnet speculates the obvious, that Dell’s part is hardware and that from the invitation, it involves "the next generation of cloud computing".
I’m not holding my breath. Maybe I am cynical but I just can’t get excited about the next generation of cloud computing without knowing more about what the announcement is.
Will you be waiting on the edge of your seat for Facebook and Dell’s announcement?
NewsMySpace and Facebook Users Targeted by New Koobface Worm
Posted 08/04/08 at 03:07:27 PM by Mark Edward Soper
MySpace and Facebook users now have bigger worries than whether Wordscraper will stay online: two new worms, known as the Koobface family, are attacking Windows users of these popular social networking (or "Notworking" sites, as our friends at The Inquirer call them). These new worms pose a threat to the peace of mind of people like Zac Koobface (a real Facebook user, by the way).
Kapersky Labs was the first to detect these worms: Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.a (targets MySpace) and Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b (targets Facebook). McAfee refers to both worms as W32/Koobface.worm, while Symantec uses the terms W32.Koobface.A and W32.Koobface.B.
Both worms send comments or messages to other users of the service. The messages or comments contain alleged links to humorous YouTube files (such as "Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street"). When the user clicks on the link, the link redirects to a website that displays an error message claiming the user needs an updated codec to enable the Adobe Flash player to play the video. The alleged Flash player update (codecsetup.exe) contain the worm.
When the Koobface.A worm runs, it configures itself to run automatically when the system starts, checks for MySpace cookies, and if it finds them, modifies the user's profile by adding links to malicious sites that contain the worm. To learn more about Koobface.A and Koobface.B, check the McAfee and Symantec links earlier in this article.
If you use Kapersky, McAfee, or Symantec antivirus, the latest virus definitions will detect and stop these worms. If you use other antivirus or anti-malware programs, check for updates daily - and don't click on funny video links from other MySpace or Facebook users. The results just aren't very funny.
Been bugged by these or other social-networking worms? Tell us your story after the jump!
NewsFacebook Taps Thousands of Xeon Processors for New Servers
Posted 08/03/08 at 12:34:47 AM by Paul Lilly
Social networking site Facebook finds itself needing to update its data center infrastructure to support new media applications, and Intel will be the one to help them do it. The two companies on Thursday announced a joint agreement that will see Facebook use "thousands" of Xeon 5400 quad-core processors built on a 45nm manufacturing process.
More than just hardware support, Intel will also work with Facebook to optimize its software for use with the bevy of Xeon chips, giving extra focus to making the software take advantage of the additional processor cores. Moreover, Intel will look to send a message that its microarchitecture can support the massive data centers that will support cloud-computing infrastructures.
"It's a big win for Intel in the general category of web infrastructure and by that I mean categories like cloud computing," said John Spooner, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Facebook has a large computing infrastructure that delivers these types of web services on demand and it requires the same level of service and infrastructure as a cloud-computing provider."
Facebook wouldn't comment on which OEMs would build the new servers, but according to eWeek, multiple sources have confirmed Dell and HP would be involved.
NewsGoodbye Scrabulous, Hello Wordscraper
Posted 07/31/08 at 10:34:26 PM by Mark Edward Soper
The Mashable social networking blog reports that the creators of the now-offline Scrabble clone Scrabulous, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, have now launched Wordscraper. Wordscraper, like its now-vanished sibling, is for Facebook users only.
Wordscraper doesn't look like Scrabble, as it uses circles instead of squares for letter placement. Although Wordscraper uses multiple letter and word scores like Scrabble, it implements them with different-colored circles, and the default board uses a much different layout than Scrabble.
To learn more about what makes Wordscraper different, and maybe better, than its predecessor, join us after the jump.
NewsFacebook Claim More Friends Than MySpace on Global Playground
Posted 06/20/08 at 01:04:34 PM by Paul Lilly
Social networking Netizens are flocking to Facebook in record numbers, helping the site claim more unique visitors in May than its closet competitor, MySpace. Facebook also enjoyed a slight edge in April at 116.4 million visitors compared to MySpace's 115.7, but a 6 percent increase in unique hits in May pushed the disparity even further to a 123.9 million versus 114.6 million advantage. This comes less than a year after Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, valuing the company at a staggering $15 billion. But for all that it's gained globally, Facebook still trails MySpace in the US where the majority of advertising dollars are to be won.
Image Credit: TigerBeer.co.uk
NewsThe Tip of the Facebook Exploit Iceberg
Posted 03/27/08 at 02:42:00 PM by David Murphy
Who's Byron Ng? A total tool, that's who. He's the one who ran a few Google searches and tipped off the Associated Press about a Facebook exploit that's been passing around the 'net for months now. The AP picked up the story and put it in every newspaper under the sun, making him a minor campus celebrity who's now forever disinvited to Facebook Club. It also tippped off Facebook to what was going on, and the company was quick to plug the exploit.
Click Read More for more.
FROM THE ARCHIVEScrabulous: I-N-F-R-I-N-G-I-N-G ?
Posted 01/14/08 at 07:47:12 PM by Erin Simon
Popular Facebook application Scrabulous faces the wrath of Hasbro over possibly infringing Scrabble's trademarks
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